Literature - Assignment 2

1. Have you ever been betrayed? Give an example of when you were betrayed. How did you feel? What did you do?

I have been betrayed so many times in the past, it's hard keeping track but there is this one instance that far surpasses the others. It all began where many other dramatic happenings take place; in high school. 

In High School, I wasn't popular nor was I socially inept, I was the middle-ground. I had very few friends but to me it was all I could have ever wished for. However, I had a specific friend who I thought I could confide in. I told her all my secrets ranging from my crushes to my personal life. Throughout the period of time I had been confiding in her, I overheard people talking about what I had said to her in confidence. At first I thought maybe they saw that I had been going through these things, but then it all began to add up. As time went by I limited speaking to her, be that as it may we still remained friends. 

Afterwards, as the drama between us began to die down, I heard that she had spread malicious and excessively hurtful rumors about me. (Mind you, I trusted this girl; I treated her like a sister). That was my breaking point. Rather than the dejected, helpless feeling and self-pity that had often times overwhelmed me over the years, I felt the impulsive feeling of anger and vengeance. But of course that didn't last for long nor did I act on them, I just felt apathetic. I'll never forget what she has done but I am slowly learning to forgive her. 

2. Have you ever felt that you were betrayed and in the end misunderstood the situation? 

Due to the aforementioned situation I have found it harder to trust persons so I have had the very unfortunate happening of misunderstanding situations leading me to think I was betrayed but in actuality I wasn't. For instance, I had a very close friend whom was very dear to me. However, due to a rumor concerning her I was misled into believing that she had said something behind my back. It turned out the allegations were false and I made a complete fool of myself when I confronted her about them. 

3. Look at Shakespeare's plays, why do the characters always resort to violence, trickery or evilness?

Violence, trickery and evilness often work as the catalyst in making Shakespeare's novels eventful and even suspenseful for the audience/readers. These antagonistic characteristics result from several factors which are reoccurring themes in many of Shakespeare's novels; betrayal, love, revenge and of course lust. Betrayal being the most common of the few. The element of betrayal frequented by the powerful unconditional/Eros love that the characters often express lead to violence, trickery and evilness to arise out of the protagonist.

However, the reasons for wickedness to prevail has often been debated over the years. Pundits and theorists argue that it was due to the time period where there wasn't a structured legal system thus justice was ad hoc or the fact that there was always an evil opposing force that led them to act in such an excessive and malicious manner. 

The fact that there wasn't a structured legal system often led the characters to take justice into their own hands. Much like the instance in 'The Merchant of Venice' where Shylock desperately seeking for revenge against Antonio, his enemy makes a contract involving a pound of flesh to be cut if Antonio didn't pay the allotted number of ducats borrowed. The Jew sought his own sort of penalty despite the fact that once the deed was left undone; the court rejected his harsh punishment. 

The exacting nature of their system of justice is even more poignant when Portia declared;

"Then take thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh; 

But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed 

One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods 

Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate 

Unto the state of Venice." (4. 1. 308-312)

This shows the primitiveness of the court system. The fact that a simple contract could have been followed despite the seriousness and ill-intent it had sought. If it had not been for the clever judge who found the loophole in the bond, a man would have lost his life just for signing a contract. 

        Furthermore, the antagonist often characterized as having manipulative and conniving qualities leads the main character on this evil, twisted path. Much like in the books; 'Much Ado About Nothing' and 'Othello'. In 'Much Ado About Nothing' Don John deceives both the prince and Claudio to believe that Hero has committed an unforgivable sin as an unmarried woman; cuckoldry. This makes Claudio believe that his fiancee has betrayed him and he misinterprets the entire situation leading him to act in a violent manner at the wedding and rejected his beloved on the wedding day. 

         In Othello, however, the events arising from the supposed betrayal are by far worse. The outcome of Iago's treacherous plot against Othello results in Desdemona's (Othello's wife) murder by her husband's own hands.

           Thus, not only does the antagonist provoke the characters into behaving violently but so too does the law prohibit people to act in a very unrestrained vehement way. 

4. Look at the background of  'The Winter's Tale'. What is going on in that era?

During the period in which Shakespeare wrote one of his many 'first folio' novels 'The Winter's Tale' many historical happenings occured. The time period 1611 when the book was written and 1625 when it was published, coincides with the reign of King James VI known as The Jacobean era. This era was particularly significant because at the time King James VI also ruled over Scotland. It also marks a new found appreciation for the arts which is particularly predominant in this period.

However, on 5th November 1605, a group of Catholics attempted to assassinate the King by blowing up the Palace of Westminster but the Gunpowder Plot was exposed before the deviants could cause any harm or damage. They were then convicted, hung, drawn and quartered.

Shortly after this devastating event, the King James Bible was published for the first time in London, England, by printer Robert Barker on the 2nd May 1611.

In 1618-1648, a religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire outbroke. This dispute escalated over time into a war involving most of the European powers. This war was called the Thirty Years' War for obvious reasons. 

5. What is the Elizabethan Theatre?

The Elizabethan Theatre, sometimes referred to as the English Renaissance theatre, derived from medieval theatre traditions, such as the mystery plays which were complicated recounts of biblical legends. The mystery plays had a phenomenal impact on the religious celebrations in England and later even became an intregal part of festivals in parts of Europe in the Middle Ages.

The History of the Elizabethan Theatre bagan with the wandering actors who travelled from city to city and roamed the streets simply in search for a sizeable crowd to perform to. However, due to the horrific outbreaks of the Black Plague, these minstrels often faced many trials based on suspicion from the citizens. Thus, the actors' reputations were severely undermined formulated on stereotypes that they were equivalent to lowly vagabonds and thieves. Travelling throughout the era was restricted and required a license which affected these travelling actors. However, after much consultance from the English nobles; the maintainence of the Elizabethan Acting Troupe was formed.

However, once Queen Elizabeth came to power, the rise and formalization of English drama was supported and fostered as an inherent part of society. It was during her era that drama began to be recognized as a complex art form to be appreciated, loved and critiqued by the masses. As the literary aspect of Engand's culture began to flourish so too did the development/establishment of several theatres. One of the many theatres established within that era was the first playhouse 'The Theatre'. After this astronomical leap in James Burbage's name; several other theatres were built including 'The Globe'.

1.1 The Globe

The original Globe Theatre was a wood-framed building with 

plastered outside walls joining at angles to form a circle or an oval. 

The interior resembled that of a modern opera house, with three 

galleries protected from rain and sunlight by a roof. Between 2,000 

and 3,000 playgoers paid two or more pennies to sit in these galleries, 

depositing them in a box. The stage was raised four to six feet from 

ground level and had a roof supported by pillars.

On June 29 1613 The Globe Theatre ignited and as a result burned to the ground. It was started by the firing of a cannon as part of a performance of Henry VIII ad as a result 'The New Globe' was built. 

1.2 The New Globe

6. What is the Theatre of the Absurd? 

The Theatre of the Absurd was started by the French in the late 1940's. It postulates that in an atheistic universe, there is no real meaning to human life and thus man-kind finds it impossible to interaction. There is no reason or logic in man's communication which leads to chaos and havoc; This dissonance eventually leads to silence.

This theatrical style highlights man's aloneness and his quest to conquer the metaphysical world. "Absurdist works utilise thetrical conventions such as - but not limited to - Mime, Gibberish, Heightened Language, Codified Language and Vignette." The arrangements usually lack struggles, and concentrate on contrast, alienation and irony.

1.3 Theatre of the Absurd


7. Write a biography on William Shakespeare.

Although Shakespeare has been quite an inspiration on many forms of art and literature throughout the years; he still has a msysterious air to him. Many wwho want an inside look into Shakespeare's life get frustrated because with regards to his personal history most of it is either based on assumption or insinuation and only a few records documenting important milestones in his life have been safeguarded and cherished. 

William Shakespeare of Stratford-Upon-Avon was born on April 23, 1564. Church records verify this indicating that he was, in fact baptised in 1564 approximately three days after his birth. It is said, that the young Shakespeare was son of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden and was the third-born out of eight children.

His education is somewhat a grey-area in his recorded life. Many speculate that he attended The Free Grammar School in Stratform based entirely on the fact that he had an extensive knowledge of Latin and Classical Greek. Also, many believe that his father's position in society may have scored Shakespeare an education at the Grammar School. 

Shakespeare later married Anne Hathaway on November 28, 1582. William was estimated to be 18 at the time and Anne was 26 and pregnant. She gave birth to three children - her first daughter, Susanna and twins, Hamnet and Judith. 

In the infamous period in Shakespeare's life known as the 'Lost Years' where there is no record of him for seven years.There were many rumors of what he was doing at the time but none are proven to be true. He finally arrived in London and began to establish himself as an actor and playwright in approximately 1588. 

By 1594, Shakespeare was acting, writing and managing for the Lord Chamberlain's Men; an established playing company. Shakespeare's success is evident in even today's society there is an appreciation for this great literary contributor. "His company was the most successful in London in his day nd he had plays published and sold in octavo editions to his 'literate audiences." Apart from his obvious success as a literary genious; he also had some entrepreneurial skills as well attributed based on his success in both the theatrical company and the Globe. 

Shakespeare's works entail a few comedic plays including: 'All's Well That Ends Well' , 'As You Like It' (1599), 'Comedy of Errors' (1589), 'Love's Labour's Lost', 'Measure for Measure' (1604), 'Merchant of Venice', 'Merry Wives of Windsor' (1600), 'Midsummer Night's Dream' (1595), 'Much Ado about Nothing' (1598), 'Taming of the Shrew' (1593), 'Tempest' (1611), 'Twelfth Night' (1599), 'Two Gentlemen of Verona'(1594) and 'Winter's Tale' (1610). His Histories include: 'Cymbeline' (1609), 'Henry IV, Part I' (1597), 'Henry IV, Part II' (1597), 'Henry V' (1598), 'Henry VI, Part I' (1594), 'Henry VI, Part II' (1590), 'Henry VI, Part III' (1590), 'Henry VIII' (1612), 'King John' (1596), 'Pericles' (1608), 'Richard II' and 'Richard III' (1592). Whereas, a list of his tragedies include: 'Antony and Cleopatra' (1606), 'Coriolanus' (1607), 'Hamlet' (1600), 'Julius Caesar' (1599), 'King Lear' (1605) , 'Macbeth' (1605), 'Othello' (1604), 'Romeo and Juliet' (1594), 'Timon of Athens' (1607) , 'Titus Andronicus' (1593) and 'Troilus and Cressida' (1601).

"William Shakespeare wrote his will in 1611, bequeathing his properties to his daughter Susanna. To his surviving daughter Judith, he left £300, and to his wife Anne left "my second best bed." William Shakespeare allegedly died on his birthday, April 23, 1616." Two co-workers from the Lord Chamberlain's Men, John Heminges and Henry Condell, published the First Folio edition of his collected plays.

"William Shakespeare's legacy is a body of work that will never again be equaled in Western civilization. His words have endured for 400 years, and still reach across the centuries as powerfully as ever." His epitaph reads:

"Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbeare

To dig the dust enclosed here.

Blessed be the man that spares these stones,

And cursed be he who moves my bones"

Drama

Elements of Drama

Act is a part of a play considered a major division

Scene is a subdivision of an act.

Exposition is the part of a book that sets the stage for the drama to follow: it introduces the theme, setting, characters, and circumstances at the story’s beginnings.

Conflict is the struggle within the plot between opposing forces.

Complication is the series of difficulties forming the central action in a narrative.

Climax is the highest point of the narrative. All actions build towards the climax.

Denouement is the unravelling of the plot in a play or story.

Peripeteia is the sudden reversal of fortune in a story, play or any narrative in which there is an observable change in direction. 

Characterization is the process of depicting characters and personality in a narrative so that the characters seem real.

Protagonist is the main character (the central or primary personal figure) of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify.

Antagonist is a character, group of characters, or an institution, that represents the opposition against which the protagonist must contend.

Main Plot is the underlined or most prevalent idea of the story line.

Sub Plot is a secondary plot strand that is a supporting side story for the main plot.

Forms of Drama

Comedy in a literary form presents the misadventures of the characters as amusing rather than disastrous and provides a happy ending.

History in a novel has as its setting a period of history and that attempts to convey the spirit, manners, and social conditions of a past age with realistic detail and fidelity (which is in some cases only apparent fidelity) to historical fact. The work may deal with actual historical personages...or it may contain a mixture of fictional and historical characters.

Tragedy is a form of art dealing with a serious or sombre theme, typically that of a great person destined through a flaw of character or conflict with some overpowering force, a fate of society, to downfall or destruction.

Romance or Chivalric Romance is a style of heroic prose and verse narrative depicting heroic or marvellous deeds, pageantry, romantic exploits, etc. in a historical or romantic setting. 

Tragicomedy is fictional work that blends aspects of the genres of tragedy and comedy. In English literature, from Shakespeare's time to the nineteenth century, tragicomedy referred to a serious play with either a happy ending or enough jokes throughout the play to lighten the mood. 

Theatre of the Absurd is a theatrical style originating in France in the late 1940's. It relies heavily on existential philosophy, and is a category for plays of absurdist fiction, written by a number of playwrights from the late 1940s to the 1960s, as well as the theatre which has evolved from their work. It expresses the belief that, in a godless universe, human existence has no meaning or purpose and therefore all communication breaks down. Logical construction and argument give way to irrational and illogical speech and as its ultimate conclusion, silence.

Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement.

Modern Drama speaks loudly and lucidly to multiple parties and can articulate struggle and redemption in a matter that makes it understandable to all in the modern society. Its revelancy is effective in real time.

Melodrama refers to a dramatic work which exaggerates plot and characters in order to appeal to the emotions. It may also refer to the genre which includes such works, or to language, behavior, or events which resemble them. It is also used in scholarly and historical musical contexts to refer to dramas of the 18th and 19th centuries in which orchestral music or song was used to accompany the action.

Features of Drama

Monologue is when the character may be speaking his or her thoughts aloud, directly addressing another character, or speaking to the audience, especially the former.

Dialogue is a literary and theatrical form consisting of a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people.

Soliloquy is a device often used in drama whereby a character relates his or her thoughts and feelings to him/herself and to the audience without addressing any of the other characters, and is delivered often when they are alone or think they are alone. 

Aside is a line spoken by an actor that the other characters on stage supposedly cannot hear. An aside usually shares the character's inner-thoughts with the audience.

Set is the setting in which the filming or acting of the story, play or literary work takes place.

Stage Directions are the directions given to the actors by the director. They involve physical movement by the actors on stage.

Stage Conventions deal with the engineering products tied to the story and how those ties affect the audience's response eg. costume, lighting, sound effects, stage position, backdrops and props.

Chorus is a homogenous, non-individualized group of performers, often in the plays of classical Greece, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action of the play or narrative.

Dramatic Unities are the three dramatic principles requiring limitation of the supposed times of a drama to that occupied in acting it or to a single day (unity of time), use of one scene throughout (unity of place), and concentration of the development of a single plot (unity of action). The principles are derived from a Renaissance interpretation of Aristotle's poetics. 

Disguise is to change the appearance or guise of so as to conceal identity or to mislead, as by means of deceptive garb. In a play, this would be able to assist in convincing the actor's role to the audience.

Literary Devices

Imagery  is used in literature to refer to descriptive language that evokes emotional responses.

Motif is any reoccuring element that has symbolic significance in a story. 

Symbolism is the art of using an object to represent something else. Symbolism is often times used in literature to provide meaning to the writing beyond what is actually being described.

Dramatic Irony is the device of giving the spectator an item of information that at least one of the characters in the narrative is unaware of (at least consciously), thus placing the spectator a step ahead of at least one of the characters.

Tragic Irony is a special category of dramatic irony. In tragic irony, the words and actions of the characters contradict the real situation, which the spectators fully realize. In other words, the incongruity created when the (tragic) significance of a character's speech or actions is revealed to the audience but unknown to the character concerned.

Juxtaposition is the placement of two things (usually abstract concepts, though it can refer to physical objects) near each other.

Literary Contexts

Social Context is the culture that s/he was educated and/or lives in, and the people and institutions with whom the person interacts.

Historical Context reflects the time in which something takes place or was created and how that influences how you interpret it. In other words, it is the events that took place around something through which you understand that thing.

Political Context reflects the environment in which something is produced indicating it's purpose or agenda

Religious Context is the setting of a spiritual nature which sets the tone or background of a particular scene/ event in a story, novel or novelette

Ethnic Context is the ethnicity/ethnic background of the main characters in a story.

Moral Context sets the tone of the ethical or philosophical tone of the story.

Intellectual Context gives the academic or educational background of the protagonist.

Cultural Context is the overriding values and mores of the main characters in the book/story.